How Jawed Habib built a multi-crore business

'I have had my share of failures… But these failures have not curbed my junoon (passion). My passion has remained with me despite my failures.'

Do you know how Jaweb Habib, son of a barber built a multi-crore empire?

'I live one day at a time. I solve any problem at hand and don't think too much,' the entrepreneur had revealed in one of his interviews to YourStory.

In his latest book Attitude Is Everything: Achieving Hair Raising Profits In Business, Jawed Habib explains how he dealt with multiple failures and kept his passion alive.

Presenting an excerpt from the book for you to read:

I have had my share of failures… But these failures have not curbed my junoon (passion). My passion has remained with me despite my failures.

Some call it craziness, but I love my craziness. My madness has helped me stay focused on my work. I have not wavered from the two mottos of my life: to educate the hairdressers of this country and to give a haircut to each and every citizen of this country.

I think this craziness of mine is extremely powerful. It has worked wonders for me and one day it will take me to the world that I dream of.

This passion for hair service has made me work in some of the weirdest places one can think of. Just because of this passion, I keep scouting for opportunities all the time and everywhere. Giving a haircut comes naturally to me. I do not care where I am or to whom I am giving a haircut.

Location is also not a factor at all. You will be surprised to know that I have done a haircut in a house, at a railway station, at an airport, in the flight, on a train and even on the street. I just need a pair of scissors.

I have worked with kitchen scissors and first-aid scissors. On a lighter note, I can say that I can give a haircut even with a pair of gardening scissors if the situation demands.

I am not finicky about cutting sheets, styling chairs or combs. On several occasions, I have used the newspaper as a cutting sheet. Any chair can be a styling chair for me. And the magic spell is cast, literally empty handed.

Hairstyling is my passion and I have made my passion my profession.

I want to continue being crazy; living my life the way I dream it, and not the way the other people want it to be. -- Paulo Coelho

Passion is the love that makes a professional successful. Without passion, one’s profession is just a job to earn a livelihood. It will not make him/her great.

Virat Kohli has succeeded as a cricketer because he enjoys playing cricket. The world would not have seen the greatness of Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo if they had not enjoyed playing soccer.

All those who have achieved greatness in life have succeeded in doing so because they did what they loved doing the most. They did not wait to hear what others are saying about them. They carried on and on despite their successes and failures.

Yes, failures in life are as true as the successes you achieve. But if one has passion and zeal, he or she will come out of failures.

These are roadblocks on the journey to greatness; you just need to swirl past it. When you are driving a car, you do not stop seeing a bumper. You just drive over it.

Treat the failures of your life as those insignificant hindrances. At most, these are speed breakers. They do not have the power to stop the car, as the steering wheel is still in your hands and the accelerator beneath your foot. So, just drive over your failures. Do not look back, but take your lessons along.

Failures in my life revolve around some of the business decisions that I took but did not work. Like a true entrepreneur, I depend on my instincts. I am more of an instinctive businessman rather than being research-oriented.

I love to follow my gut feelings. I do not wait to take actions, because I feel that a delayed decision is mostly a wrong decision. The crucial factor is time, and you miss out on it. Yes, I have made mistakes…

Excerpted from Attitude Is Everything: Achieving Hair Raising Profits In Business by Jawed Habib, with the kind permission of the publishers, Sage Publications India Pvt Ltd.